The use of moving water as a decorative element in the home or in public buildings is well known. Fountains have, of course, been architectural ornamentation in public places since time immemorial. More recently, artificial, self-contained decorative items using flowing water as an important decorative element have also become known. See, for example, Zysk U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,378. Zysk shows a "wall fountain" in which a unitary housing is formed for insertion into a wall or the equivalent. The unitary housing has a back wall inclined at between approximately 5.degree. and 10.degree. to the vertical. Water is caused to flow through a number of orifices along the top of the inclined wall, so as to flow gently down along the wall, being eventually collected gently down therein, terminating in a pool at the bottom of the wall, for pumping back to the orifices. The back wall of the Zysk wall fountain is smooth. Applicants find that such a smooth, unbroken flow of water, while certainly not unattractive, is not as appealing to the eye as might be desired.
Gosh U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,223 shows a "method of assembling an artificial waterfall" in which a pair of inclined planar members 30 and 20 are arranged such that one is spaced some distance above the other, such that a sheet of water impinging on an upper plate falls some distance through the air before landing on a lower plate; the water than drops into a pool. The Gosh waterfall is disclosed in connection with outdoor use. This may be because the water falling from one plate to the other through some distance would necessarily result in some splashing. If used indoors, the Gosh device would cause water to be splashed about the area of the waterfall, which would ruin many commonly employed home furnishings. For example, rugs, hardwood floors, other objets d'art, and the like should all be prevented from continued exposure to moisture. The Gosh waterfall, therefore, would not be suitable for interior use in many homes, and is therefore not as useful as might be desired.
Particularly with the advent of higher energy prices, homeowners have realized that maintenance of the correct humidity is important to maintaining a feeling of comfort in the home, particularly in winter. Keeler U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,315 shows a "Humidifier and Moving Indoor Sculpture" in which water is pumped to the top of a member, which comprises generally helical planes extending downwardly about a generally circular member. The member floats on a pool of water, such that when water flows down the helices, the member tends to spin. Humidity is stated to be added to the atmosphere thereby. Keeler shows water dropping relatively great distances, from various portions of the peripheries of the planar helices into the pool, such that substantial splashing would occur. As in the case of the Gosh patent discussed above, this would prevent the Keeler device from being used in most homes. Note also that the Keeler device is relatively massive; see FIG. 1.
A need therefore exists in the art for a home furnishing in which the eye-attractive qualities of flowing water are employed in a very decorative manner, which provides a degree of humidity to the air of a home within which this device is located, yet in which splashing deleterious to other home furnishings is substantially avoided.